Twenty-four percent of likely Republican and independent-leaning GOP voters in the Granite State — which holds the nation’s first presidential primary — say Romney would be their top choice for president in 2016, according to a new Suffolk University/Boston Heraldpoll.

When Romney is included among potential Republican presidential candidates, the 2012 GOP nominee sends Rand Paul, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush packing. The likely GOP voters in New Hampshire like Romney — a former Massachusetts governor — so much that the rest of the possible Republican field falls into the single digits.

Romney repeatedly has said that he’s not interested in running for president a third time, but he still gets asked the question. “I’m not running for president,” he said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I’ve said that so many times.”

“Romney is still well thought of, at least in states like New Hampshire,” said Dave Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. The poll “speaks to how weak the current potential field is, given that there are no standouts.”

Without Romney in the poll, Christie and Paul are each the first presidential choice of 11% of Granite State Republicans. Nearly a third of voters, or 32%, say they’re undecided about the GOP field.